Destined
by Lord Lycaon
Summary: Life can be unfair. It can be brutal, and unrelenting. The fact that he has somehow been sent to this place against his will is proof of that. Regardless of his feelings towards life, he must now team up with unlikely friends to confront an evil that threatens both this world and his own. Fate can be a real b***h sometimes. (rated T for mild language from the main character)
1. Prologue

**All right, folks, this is the story that I am writing for 0-Blazing Sun-0. I hope you enjoy it. This is just the beginning of a bizarre little adventure that, in all honesty, I've had in mind for a while now.**** Have fun!**

-o-

The rain poured heavily upon the ground. Its drops created light _thumps_ as they struck black umbrellas. A dozen sets of eyes lay upon a pair of large boxes that lay in the wet earth, each of them decorated with several assortments of flowers. Tears ran down the faces of all present as a preacher gave last rites to those who had passed.

None were more stricken by this loss than the youngest person present, a young man, barely past sixteen, who was utterly motionless at the sight of the two boxes. The minutes dragged on like hours to him, and hours felt like days. A hand fell on his shoulder. He turned to the owner. A man, well into his forties, stood with a woeful, melancholic look in his eyes. The boy could tell that it wasn't genuine. He turned away, once again staring at the boxes.

Eventually, the preacher finished. Two men, each equipped with shovels, began to dig into a mound of dirt and dropping the soaking earth onto the boxes. Once more, time dragged on for what was an eternity to the boy. It hurt to see this. It hurt even more, knowing that there was nothing he could've done to save them. The pain was far greater than anything he had ever felt before. He remembered vividly the last words that they had shared with him.

_"We'll be back soon," she said with a bright smile, hugging him tightly. "We wouldn't want our little boy to be alone for any longer than he needs to be."_

_ "Come on, honey," the man standing behind her said, checking his watch. "We're going to be late." The woman nodded and released the boy, who stepped back wiped his clothes in annoyance. The man walked over to him. "We'll only be gone for a few days. Don't burn the house down, all right?"_

_"Yeah, yeah," the boy replied irritably._

_The man and woman looked at each other, and the man sighed. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's not like we want to go, son," he said reassuringly. "But this is important. We'll come back as soon as everything's settled, okay?"_

_The boy crossed his arms and looked away. "Yeah, I get it. I'll try not to throw any wild parties."_

_"Good boy," the man said jokingly, tousling the boy's hair some._

_The woman gave one last hug to the boy. "We love you, sweetie. BRB, all right?" She giggled slightly at that, to which the boy rolled his eyes. The man and woman waved their goodbyes, then walked out the door and got into the car._

-o-

The house seemed so much bigger when he and his father's so-called "friend" came back. The hall seemed longer than before. The kitchen's scent was plainer. The living room wasn't as lively as it should've been. The television was black and empty. He didn't dare set foot in the one bedroom on the first floor. It was their room after all. He never went into their room. After several minutes, he made his way to the second floor to return to his own bedroom.

There were more stairs than he remembered. The hallway here was cold and more expansive than he recalled. He walked forward until he reached the end of the hall, turning to the right to face a closed door. He opened the door, then hesitated for a moment. He stepped into his bedroom.

It was simple in here. He liked simple. A bed, a dresser, a nightstand, and a closet. That was all he ever really needed. He walked over to the dresser, upon which a small collection of books was gathered. He trailed his finger across them until he came across one that he hadn't read or heard in years.

_Alice in Wonderland_, by Lewis Carroll.

He flipped to the first page, old memories flooding back to him as he read. Hi mother read this story to him a lot when he was young. He related pretty well to Alice. His family was fairly wealthy, but his life was dull. He might as well have been living in a rut all his life. He sometimes wished that he, too, could go to a place like Wonderland. Have an adventure filled with excitement and danger.

But growing up had broken those dreams, and recent events had given him even greater evidence. There was no place like Wonderland. No magic. No excitement. Just dull, short, gray life.

He shook his head and placed the book back. No point in living in the past. It would only hurt more.

He left his room, and went outside, towards the nearby woods. He would often go there and hide whenever he was upset. His parents always found him, though. Now…

As he wandered through the woods, he struggled to keep… certain thoughts out of his head. But they always came to him. They wouldn't go away. Eventually, he stopped and sat on an old stump where he knew a large tree once was.

The woods were quiet, save for the sounds of birds singing and small animals scampering about. He tried to fight back the sense that they were mocking him. They were so happy, and he had just lost the only family that he had.

He got up from the stump, and was making his way to leave. A he walked, he heard something. The bushes behind him were rustling, like something was in them. From them, a small white rabbit bounced out. He didn't think much of it at first, but then he realized something: it was summer. Rabbits don't turn white unless it's winter, or if they've been in captivity their whole lives. It was odd.

What was stranger, however, was that the rabbit looked straight at him. Its unmoving glare was more than a little disturbing. Its ears twitched slightly when he took a step back. He turned to leave, but stopped when he saw another white rabbit sitting just a few feet away from him. He looked back. The first rabbit was gone. He looked down to the second rabbit – could it have been the same rabbit? – which looked off to the right. It made strange motions with its forelegs, as if to tell him to follow it, and it hopped away, into the brush. Curious, the boy followed.

The rabbit always made sure to stay at least five feet ahead at all times. Whenever the boy got too close, it hopped off further away. The boy followed it through the woods for what felt like an hour. A part of him wanted to just call it a day and go home, but most of him didn't want to go back to that house. There were too many thoughts, too many memories.

Eventually, the rabbit stopped. It stood waiting for him by a tree that had a large hole in the trunk, right on the ground. It continued to make those motions as if saying to follow. It jumped into the hole, its snow white form disappearing in the darkness. The boy stood there, unsure. Should he go into the hole? It seemed like a stupid idea. It's not there'd be anything in there.

He shook his head and turned to leave. Why did he even follow that stupid rabbit in the first place?

There was a sudden breeze. The leaves shook, rustling in the light wind. _"Dustin…"_

The boy flinched at the sound of his own name. He looked around, trying to find the speaker. He was the only one there. "Hello?" he called out.

_"Follow the hare,"_ said that same voice. It was a man's voice, and it had something akin to a British accent to it. _"Follow the hare."_

The boy faced the hole again. He could almost swear that the voice was coming from there. But that was crazy. He stepped back, and the breeze stopped as suddenly as it had begun. There was a moment of total silence. Not even the birds were singing. It was as if they were waiting for something to happen.

The boy shook his head. He must've been hearing things. That was the only explanation.

He turned and began to leave. Just as he did, however, the wind picked up. Heavily. It blew against him pushing him back towards the tree with the hole. He began to panic as he realized the he wasn't being _blown_ towards the hole. He was being pulled towards it.

His feet slipped, and he landed on the ground face first. He grasped desperately at the grass, trying to hold onto something, anything, but the flimsy blades just broke under the stress. Before he knew it, he was already halfway into the hole. He held onto the fringes of the hole for dear life, his grip gradually giving way. He closed his eyes tight as he heard that voice speak again:

_"Follow the hare, Dustin,"_ it said. _"It will guide you forevermore."_

At that, he lost his grip, and he fell into the hole screaming. As he fell, he felt his body shift painfully, like he was becoming a different species or something. He couldn't be sure. He was blinded by flashes of unnatural light.

Just when he thought that this was a nightmare and that he would wake up any second, he landed on hard ground. He could feel the grass and dirt scratching against him. His vision, dazed and blurry, was flooded with green foliage. Was he still in the woods? He had no idea. He lifted his head slightly, but it felt heavy. He let his head fall back to the ground.

He could see tendrils of black clouding up his view. With a heavy groan, he closed his eyes, letting the darkness take him.

Just before he tuned out completely, however, he heard a new voice. "Oh me, oh my, what is this that I've stumbled upon?" a male tone asked cryptically. It chuckled lightly. "It would seem that my old friend has had a plan all along. Worry not, dear little boy, and perhaps you won't wind up the Devourer's chew toy." With that said, the voice faded with an eerie laugh, and the boy passed out completely.


	2. The Beginning of a Strange Time

The Everfree was dark and eerie as usual. The animals of the forest dashed across the ground almost soundlessly, going about their lives like their home was completely normal. That always unnerved her, but the more she visited the place, the more she got used to it. The fact that Zecora had volunteered to help her with a spell she'd been working on was also good motivation for her to go so deep into the woods.

The purple mare's horn glowed, and a parchment hovered in front of her, as well as some of the things that Zecora told her to gather. Her saddlebags were already filled with over twenty different types of herbs and fungus. She had to keep reminding herself that this would help her out with her training. She sighed and rolled up the parchment. Fortunately, she had only one more herb to collect. Something called timberwolfsbane, which she knew was a good ways further into the forest.

She trotted down the path for a while, trying to keep her wings in check the whole way. She could almost swear that those things had a mind of their own sometimes. Eventually, as she walked through the forest, appreciating the songs of passing birds, she came across a clearing that was filled with various types of plants.

She pulled her list back out and examined a few of the plants. She grinned at her good fortune when she found the right herb and picked it. She was just about to head back then when her ears twitched at a sound. It was like someone was groaning in pain nearby. The mare clenched her teeth nervously and headed to where she heard the sound, near the center of the clearing.

She pushed away some plants that were in her way, and her eyes widened at what she saw. A young pegasus stallion lay unconscious on the ground. His blue coat was matted and dirtied in places, and his navy blue mane and tail were tangled and unkempt. But the thing that really shocked her was that he lacked a cutie mark, despite looking like he was probably around the same age as her.

She looked around frantically. What should she do? She was no doctor! She wasn't qualified to help someone medically! She managed to take a deep breath to calm herself down. This was simple. Just take him to the nearest pony who could help. Currently, the only nearby doctor of any kind that she could think of was Zecora.

She nodded at that thought. Focusing her magic, she levitated the pegasus off the ground and hurried off to Zecora's house. Surely the zebra enchantress would know what to do.

-o-

He felt warm now. It was dark. Where was he? He felt as though he was being watched. He could hear a voice trying to speak to him, but it was distant muffled. It was, however, very gradually becoming more audible. Just enough so that it became clear that it was actually two voices. They were still difficult to make out, though. Like they were speaking into pillows or something.

Eventually, he realized his eyes were closed. Slowly, he lifted his eyelids, and was nearly blinded by the light of a small fire nearby. Soon, his eyes adjusted, and he found that he was lying on somebody's bed. It felt itchy, and he quickly discovered that it was mostly made from hay.

_Weird,_ he thought.

He sat up and heard someone gasp. He turned to the source to see… a purple horse. With a horn. And wings. It was also smaller than typical horses. It was only about four feet tall. It had an odd little star-like mark on either side of its rear end, and its mane and tail were mostly a dark purple, with two connected streaks of lighter shades of the same color. Its head was also strangely shaped, being in a form much more similar to that of some sort of human-horse hybrid or something, and its eyes were large and a dark shade of purple.

Then the weirdest thing happened.

"Zecora, he's awake!" the horse said in a girl's voice as she hurried to get whoever Zecora was. His eyes went wide, and his jaw practically hit the ground. A talking purple unicorn with wings.

"It's official," he said to himself. "I've gone insane."

After a brief moment, the purple mare returned, followed by… a zebra. The zebra smiled – somehow – and said, "How glad I am to see you are all right. You gave us both quite a fright."

The purple mare walked over to him and, to his disbelief, raised her left foreleg high enough to touch his forehead with her hoof. "You don't have a fever," she said. "And Zecora didn't find anything wrong with you. How do you feel? Can you tell us your name?"

He just stared her silently for a moment, then sighed. "My name is Dustin Clark. Make sure you spell it right when you have me committed."

"'Committed'?" the mare parroted with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," Dustin answered in a deadpan. "I'm hallucinating about talking horses and zebras."

The female equines looked at each other. The zebra shrugged, and the purple mare face him again.

"Right," she said in an awkward response. "Anyway, I'm Twilight Sparkle" – she motioned to herself – "and that's Zecora." The zebra gave a nod in greeting. "I was gathering a few things out in the forest for her when I found out cold in a clearing. How did you end up there?"

"Hell if I know," Dustin replied. "But I'm convinced that I'm still out of it. Horses don't talk." The equines gave him a confused look that him feel a bit awkward. He reached up to scratch the back of his head, a habit he had whenever he felt nervous. It was then that he noticed something. He hand felt harder. It was more difficult to flex his fingers. Curious, he brought his hand into view.

His eyes went wide when he saw that he didn't even _have_ fingers. He stared slack-jawed at the hoof that was in the place of his hand, then looked down at himself. His entire body had changed. He was covered in blue fuzz, and had wings on either side of his… torso? He immediately leaped out of the bed, and tried to find a mirror, collapsing when he tried to walk on two legs.

Eventually, he found a mirror and took a hard look at himself. Looking back at him was another horse, whose coat was a deep blue, its mane a much darker shade. His eyes were bright green, as they should be, but they were larger, and were firmly in the head of a horse with a much shorter snout than it should've been.

That's about when he snapped.

"WHAT THE F*** HAPPENED TO ME!?" he screamed way louder than he had ever screamed before. He scrambled his new hooves over his body, eventually feeling his head. This had to be some kind of dream! This couldn't really be happening! Lacking fingers, he couldn't pinch himself, so he had to settle for something more painful.

Twilight yelped when Dustin actually punched himself in the face. Zecora just stared with shock as Dustin did it again. After the third punch, Twilight grabbed his forelegs and said, "What is _wrong _with you!?"

"This has _got _to be a dream!" Dustin shouted in panic. "It has to be! I'm not a horse! I'm a human for God's sake!"

Zecora shook her head. "What a human is, I do not know. But with yourself, you should not trade blows." Dustin stared at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Does she always do that rhyming thing?" he asked.

"You get used to it," Twilight replied. "But she's right. Punching yourself isn't going to help you. Whatever it is you need help with, I'll be more than willing to lend a hoof."

Once again, he gave her a deadpan stare, then wiped his face with his hand… hoof… whatever. "I can't believe you actually said that," he muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Look, I'm still totally convinced that this is all just some kind of crazy dream, probably caused by an overdose of sleeping meds that I don't remember taking. I'll wake up sooner or later, and then I can forget that this ever happened in the first place." He stood up on his hind legs, but once again fell forward. He managed to stop himself, and groaned when he realized that he'd have to walk on four legs instead of two. Yippee.

Twilight sighed at Dustin's attitude. "Look, buddy," she said, going from polite to blunt, "whether you like it or not, you're a pony like me. Specifically, you're a pegasus pony. You'll have to deal with it and stop fantasizing about being human."

Dustin stared at her again. Did the talking, purple, winged unicorn just tell him to stop fantasizing about his own humanity? Did that seriously just happen?

"If you wish to know what is going on," Zecora said calmly and cryptically, "then you go with Twilight to the place where books belong."

The purple mare's eyes suddenly lit up. "That's right! The library is bound to have something that could help you come to terms with reality. Follow me!" She hurried out of the hut – he guessed it was hut, since it was too small to be a real house – and motioned for him to follow. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, then walked (trotted?) out the door and into the forest.

"Farewell for now, my youthful friends!" Zecora called with a wave goodbye. When they were out of earshot, she said, "I certainly hope that you don't bring each other's end." It was plain and easy to see that Twilight and Dustin were total opposites. She had a feeling that a mixture like that could prove to be very interesting to see.


	3. Ponies Galore

Dustin followed Twilight fairly closely, just enough distance between them so that they wouldn't lose track of each other. He kept an eye out at his surroundings. This forest, which Twilight said was called the Everfree Forest, was quite likely one of the creepiest places he had ever been to. He was still completely certain that this was all some sort of elaborate hallucination, but that didn't stop the chills going down his spine whenever he heard a threatening noise.

He noticed Twilight occasionally glancing back at him. She was probably just making sure that he was still with her. He tried not to think too much about it. He didn't really want to break the silence. But, of course, the purple horse had other ideas.

"So," she said somewhat awkwardly. "Why don't you have your cutie mark yet?"

"My what?"

"You know. The mark on your flank that's supposed to represent your special talent." She pointed to the star mark on her hip. "My cutie mark is a star, or light reminiscent of when unicorns use magic, showing my talent for, well, magic."

Dustin raised an eyebrow at that. "That sounds like the dumbest thing ever. Why call it a cutie mark? Why not a talent mark or something? That'd make more sense."

"Well… I…" Twilight stammered a little. She sighed and shook her head. "Forget it. Let's just keep going."

There was another silence between them as they walked through the forest, their hooves being one of the few sources of sound. Unlike earlier, this quiet was much more… uncomfortable. It felt forced. More than a little, too.

Just when Dustin was thinking about saying something, Twilight said, "Just a little ways further. We're out of the forest now, so it shouldn't be long before we get to Ponyville."

Dustin did a double-take at the mare. "Ponyville?" he asked. "Seriously? What country are we in? Ponyland?"

"Equestria, actually," Twilight corrected in annoyance. The stallion's attitude was beginning to get on her nerves. "Look, do you want to know why… things are happening, or not?"

Dustin just rolled his eyes. "Fine. Lead the way, Your Highness." Twilight stared at him when he made that comment. "What? You've never heard of sarcasm?"

The purple mare actually chuckled then. "Of course I have. It just happens that I'm a princess." That earned yet another deadpan stare from Dustin.

"A pony princess… That settles it. I'm not asleep. I've died and gone to hell, and my eternal punishment is to live in a little girl's fantasy."

"Geez, are you always such a downer?"

"You should see me on a good day. I really bring down the thunder with my, oh, so enthralling sarcasm." Twilight rolled her eyes yet again and continued forward.

As they pair walked down the path, Dustin could make out a relatively small town not too far away. It must've been… Ponyville. He still couldn't quite get used to the idea of a town being named "Ponyville." That was almost as dumb as cutie marks. And that was saying something. As they drew closer to the town, Dustin gave Twilight an analytical look.

"You know," he began, "I've never once heard of a unicorn with wings, not even in the most childish fantasy books. What kind of horse are you, exactly?"

Twilight looked back at him and puffed out her chest a little, clearly proud of something. "I am an alicorn, thank you very much. Though I used to be a fairly ordinary unicorn. I became an alicorn when I mastered the power of the magic of friendship."

"The magic of…" Dustin groaned at that. "You've gotta be kidding me. You're kidding, right?"

"I never kid when it comes to magic," Twilight assured him, to which he sighed heavily.

"I already hate this place."

"Well, get used to it, buster. You live here."

"Woohoo," Dustin replied in a snide tone. Eventually, they reached the town, where Dustin got a good view of… ponies walking around and doing things that humans would do. Shopping, talking, sometimes simply out taking walks or… jogging? Would it be called jogging here? Prancing? Cantering? He decided that it'd be best to just leave it as jogging until he knew for certain what it was actually called. It's not like any of this mattered anyway. It was just a very elaborate hallucination. Almost too elaborate.

At that thought, he came to a grave realization. He didn't have anywhere near the level of creativity to dream up place like this, even if it was induced by sleeping pills or whatever. And that actually frightened him a little. It did hurt when he punched himself in the face back in that hut. If this were a dream, either it wouldn't have hurt, or it would've woken him up. Either way, that evidence making all of this lean ever so slightly towards real. That may not bode well.

_Wait, who am I kidding?_ he reasoned with himself. _This is all impossible all of it. Every little bit. I'll wake up. I have to at some point._

Twilight led the way to a large tree that was apparently hollowed out to be used as a building. Her horn glowed a bright purple, as did the door, and the door swung open. The mare then ushered Dustin into the tree, where he saw that the walls were covered in bookshelves that were fully stocked with countless books. It could only be the library that she had mentioned before.

The purple mare walked ahead of him and called out a name. "Spike! I'm home! We have a guest!"

"All right!" the voice of a young boy called from upstairs. "I'll be down in a few minutes!"

Dustin raised an eyebrow. "Spike?" he asked.

"He's my assistant," Twilight answered. "He's a good friend, too. I've known him since I was a little filly." Dustin didn't really respond, she noticed. She saw that he was apparently busy going through a few of her books. She raised an eyebrow at this. "You read a lot?"

"Yeah," Dustin replied. "Not as much as I used to, though."

"Well, that's good, I guess," the purple alicorn said. "There's really nothing else around here for you to entertain yourself with." Just then, someone came down stairs. When Dustin turned to see who it was, he could only stare. Hurrying over to Twilight was a purple lizard creature that stood at around two feet tall.

"Hey, Twilight," it said in the same boyish voice from earlier. "I was just finishing up my chores. Where's the guest?" Twilight nodded to where Dustin was standing. He was still staring at the reptile with an analytical look. "Oh! Hey there! I'm Spike."

"Dustin," the pegasus colt replied. He cocked his head to the side. "What are you supposed to be? A mutant iguana or something?"

"Excuse me?" Spike said indignantly. "I'm no iguana! I'm a dragon!"

"Right. And I'm a pink pony who bounces around like an idiot all day screaming about parties."

And as if on cue, the door slammed open, and a pink mare leaped in, a huge, idiotic grin on her face. "Hey, Twilight!" she greeted excitedly. "I heard that you just came into town with a new friend! Where are they?" Before Twilight could answer, the pink mare spotted Dustin and darted over to him. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name? What's your favorite color? When's your birthday? Where are you from? What do you do for a living? Do you wanna be friends with me?"

Dustin stared wide-eyed at the mare, leaning back from her storm of questions and clearly far-too-excitable personality. "Uh… Dustin Clark, blue, September 16th, a town you've probably never heard of, I don't have a job because I'm a student, and… not really, no."

Pinkie frowned at his last answer. "Aw, but you don't know anypony here! I could introduce you to everypony in Ponyville!" She gasped suddenly, grinning again. "We should throw you a welcome party!"

Again, Dustin just stared at her. "Did you just say 'every_pony_'?" he asked. Pinkie gave him a confused look. Before she could ask what he meant, Twilight pulled her aside, outside of earshot from Dustin.

"Don't ask him about what he just asked about," Twilight whispered. "He thinks he's a human. I'm trying to tell him that he's not, but he keeps saying that he's just having some kind of weird dream."

"Human?" Pinkie asked. "But I thought that they were just an old mares' tale?"

"They are, but he keeps arguing that _we're_ the fantasy creatures. Don't try to argue with him about it. Trust me."

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie replied quietly, promptly making her infamous Pinkie Promise. She then hurried over to Dustin and said, "Come on, Dustin! Let's go introduce you to everypony!"

"But I-!" The mare didn't give him a chance to argue as she dragged him out of the library with unnatural strength and speed. Twilight sighed in relief at this. At least she wouldn't have to put up with Dustin's sour attitude for a little bit.

"Okay, Spike," she said, getting the baby dragon's attention. "Get a quill and some paper. I want to send a letter to Princess Celestia about Dustin."

Spike hurried to get the requested items, saying, "I already don't like that guy."

"Believe me, Spike, I know how you feel." Once the dragon had what was needed, Twilight began to dictate her words, explaining the situation beginning with finding Dustin in the middle of a clearing in the Everfree. She stopped momentarily in the middle.

Spike looked up at her. "Something wrong?"

After a few moments of looking around the room, the mare shook her head. "No. It's nothing, Spike." She continued speaking for her letter. But she still couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.


End file.
